Cathy's Art Diary

Dense exhibition at Tate Britain looking at this artists’ organisation from its foundation in 1933 to the mid-point of the Second World War. The show focused on two key exhibitions Artists against Fascism and War in 1935 and For Liberty in 1943 on the bombed site of John Lewis. It also discussed the First British Artists Congress in 1937, an event that foreshadowed many elements of official post-war arts policy. I say dense as there was a lot of information, with fascinating biographies of the artists involved and lots of archive material, as well as examples of their work. I thought I knew this period of art well, but there were lots of new names to investigate and links to people I did know, like Vanessa Bell, who was an advisory council member. I’m off to Google Felicia Browne who did these sketches and was killed in the Spanish Civil War. I wish I’d had more time for this show and will try to go back and read more of the labels. What looked at first like a slightly dull arch...

Interesting exhibition at Tate Britain marking this year’s Turner Prize for contemporary art. It showcased the four quite different finalists and yet I felt they were looking at quite similar themes. The show started with Pio Abad who had investigated and reacted to items in Oxford museums acquired during the colonial era. The work was beautiful and layered in meaning.   I was intrigued to find one work was inspired by the fact he lives in the Grand Stores of the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich which served as the primary storage facility for the military equipment of the British Army and Navy. My flat overlooks them!   Next was Jasleen Kaur’s installations using objects with reflect her multicultural childhood in Glasgow. Who can resist an oversized doillie on a Ford Escort. Then came another installation artist, Delaine Le Bas, exploring their culture, in this case Roma people, with ethereal crepe and a silver room. I’m not sure I really understood it. Finally there were ...

Nostalgic exhibition at Tate Britain looking at photography in the 1980s. The show began with photographs documenting the era which they took to begin with the Grunwick Strike in 1976 which I thought was clever as it established the idea of collective action it was also based around a film processing laboratory. These were my formative years of university and early career so it all seemed horribly familiar. As well as photographs as documents I also got a sense of them as an art medium, with some interesting collage work and a room dedicated to pictures with words added, and as a process in a study or campaign. Other themes investigated were the cost of living, landscape, remodelling history, community and self-portraits. The show included one of my favourite photographs by Martin Parr shown here. There is something so British but weird about it. Closes 5 May 2025 Reviews Times Telegraph Evening Standard

Beautiful exhibition at the Fitzrovia Chapel of contemporary art works relating to contemplation, compassion and wonder. All the works were from the collections of David and Indre Roberts. I’m not sure I understood the theme but there were some beautiful pieces which looked fabulous in the ornate space. My favourite piece was a ceramic triptych by Rachel Kneebone. I love her work so I came to the show specifically to see this piece. Berlinde De Bruyckere’s sculpture made of the skin of a horse placed in the altar space was haunting and I was drawn into Gabriella Boyd’s ambiguous painting trying to work out what it showed if anything. I’ve only just noticed from reading the handy leaflet again that only one of the art works was by a man which was refreshing. Closed 9 February 2025 Review Guardian

Annoying exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of some of their recent drawing acquisitions. Prepare for more moaning! Why hold an exhibition, even if it’s quite small, in what is basically a corridor? It was hard to step back and look at the works without people walking past or to use the av presentation with more information without being bumped into. That said there were some nice works including one of the Tracey Emin drawings for the new gallery doors, a touching drawing of designer Richard Nicoll by Howard Tangye and Eileen Cooper’s pair of her portraits of herself and Cathie Pilkington. Closes 6 January 2026  

Interesting lecture at the National Portrait Gallery introducing the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Award exhibition. Claire Freestone, curator and one of the judges, lead us through the history of the award and its exhibitions and talked about works which some of the winners had gone on to do. She then took us through the main themes which emerged in this year’s shortlist. These come about unconsciously but she did say that the show reflects events of the previous year so some of the themes are almost inevitable. Finally she talked about the prize winners this year and why they were chosen. I had seen the show before Christmas and enjoyed it but it was good to get an overview of it and to learn more about how it’s put together.